Mealey's Toxic Torts : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Toxic Torts

March 15, 2024
Plaintiffs: Stone Countertop Companies Are Liable For Pulmonary Injuries

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Three toxic injury lawsuits were filed by workers in California state court against the makers of stone countertops, arguing that the defendants are liable for pulmonary injuries because the workers were exposed to crystalline silica while cutting the stone slabs. In one case, which is indicative of all of the cases, a man with silicosis contends that the defendants fraudulently concealed the toxic hazards of their stone products.
March 14, 2024
Judge Finds Flint In Contempt For Failure To Replace Water Services Lines

DETROIT — A federal judge in Michigan has held Flint, Mich., in contempt for its failure to replace all of the city’s drinking water service lines that contain lead, ruling that “it has no good reason for its failures,” which are a violation of a settlement reached in 2017.
March 14, 2024
Flint Engineering Firm Defends Actions In Row Over Attacks On Plaintiffs’ Attorney

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The attorney for an engineering firm that is a defendant and party to a $25 million class settlement in the Flint, Mich., lead-contaminated water litigation has filed a letter brief in Michigan federal court related to the dispute that has arisen over what actions the firm took in connection with an incident in which the plaintiffs’ counsel was the subject of verbal attacks, supposedly in response to public comments he had made about Flint. The attorney says he is “confident” that any activities the firm took in response to those public comments are “truthful, appropriate, and fully within its First Amendment right to comment on a matter of public significance.”
March 13, 2024
Hair Relaxer Plaintiffs Say Claims Against Revlon Are Proper Despite Bankruptcy

CHICAGO — On March 12, plaintiffs in a suit against cosmetics companies over alleged injuries related to hair relaxer products filed a brief in Illinois federal court arguing that it should deny a motion by Revlon Inc., Revlon Consumer Products Corp. and Revlon Group Holdings LLC (collectively, Revlon) to strike class allegations from the lawsuit because Revlon is in bankruptcy. The plaintiffs say certain claimants may have proper claims against Revlon despite the bankruptcy.
March 13, 2024
New York Housing Court Issues Warrant To Arrest ‘Notoriously Bad’ Landlord

NEW YORK — A justice in the New York County Housing Court has issued a warrant for the arrest of a man referred to by authorities as “one of New York City’s most notoriously bad landlords” because of dangerous conditions such as peeling lead-based paint and rodent infestations at his properties in Washington Heights.
March 13, 2024
Camp Lejeune Plaintiffs Seek Immediate Appeal Of Order Denying Them A Jury Trial

RALEIGH, N.C. — The Plaintiffs’ Leadership Group (PLG) in the litigation pertaining to the drinking water crisis at the U.S. Marine Corps base at Camp Lejeune has filed a reply brief in North Carolina federal court arguing that immediate appellate review is needed on whether the Camp Lejeune Justice Act (CLJA) authorizes jury trials for plaintiffs bringing claims under the statute.
March 12, 2024
Chamber Of Commerce: 11th Circuit Should Rehear, Again, Roundup Labeling Dispute

ATLANTA — The U.S. Chamber of Commerce on March 12 filed an amicus curiae brief in the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals arguing that the court should hear Monsanto Co.’s second petition for rehearing en banc in a long-running dispute over the labeling of the herbicide Roundup because the panel misinterpreted the preemption provision in the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) when it ruled that state law failure-to-warn claims related to the herbicide are not preempted.
March 12, 2024
Notice Of Appeal Filed After CAFA Exceptions Ruling In Floride Case

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo residents who brought a putative class complaint against the city and others seeking damages due after the practice of adding fluoride to the drinking water was stopped filed a notice of appeal nearly a month after a federal judge in New York denied the residents’ motion to send their complaint back to state court.
March 12, 2024
New York Federal Judge Says PFAS Cosmetics Case Fails To Allege Injury In Fact

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York has dismissed a class action brought against a cosmetics company related to the presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in mascara, finding that the plaintiffs failed to allege that they each suffered an injury in fact and, therefore, they lack standing.
March 12, 2024
Judge Denies New Trial For Man Who Lost Glyphosate Case Against Monsanto

ST. LOUIS — A state court judge in Missouri has denied a motion for new trial sought by a man who lost his glyphosate cancer case against Monsanto Co. when the presiding judge granted Monsanto’s motion for a directed verdict. The one-paragraph order simply stated that the motion for new trial was “without merit.”
March 12, 2024
Government: Expert In Water Case Warrants Exclusion, Fails To Explain Methodology

HONOLULU — The U.S. government has filed a reply brief in Hawaii federal court arguing that it should strike one of the plaintiffs’ experts in a groundwater contamination case because it is “impossible to verify” whether he applied what is called “grounded theory” appropriately in light of the fact that he refuses to provide details about the methodology he uses to reach his opinions.
March 11, 2024
Water Authority Will Settle Class Claims Over Industrial Waste Charges For $11.5M

DETROIT — A Michigan judge granted final approval of an $11.5 million settlement to be paid by the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) to end a class suit by property owners who are not significant industrial users (SIUs) but have paid industrial waste control (IWC) charges imposed by Detroit and GLWA; the property owners sued alleging the charges were wrongfully imposed taxes rather than proper user fees and violated the Prohibited Taxes by Cities and Villages Act.
March 11, 2024
S.C. Appeals Court Says Coverage Is Owed For Only Some Remediation Costs

COLUMBIA, S.C. — An insured is owed coverage only for cleaning structures at its wastewater facilities that were contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) because the contamination of the affected structures constitutes direct physical loss or damage under the policy at issue, the South Carolina Court of Appeals said in partially affirming and partially reversing and remanding a master’s order.
March 11, 2024
Jury Finds Monsanto Not Liable For Negligence In Roundup Cancer Lawsuit

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — A state court jury in Arkansas has ruled in favor of Monsanto Co. in a lawsuit in which a couple argued that exposure to glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup, caused the wife to develop cancer. The jury found that Monsanto was not negligent and did not sell a defective product that caused the wife’s injury.
March 08, 2024
School District: Information About Monsanto’s Knowledge Of PCB Dangers Is Relevant

BURLINGTON, Vt. — The Burlington School District (BSD) has filed a brief in Vermont federal court opposing Monsanto Co.’s motion to quash the BSD’s notice of deposition and opposing Monsanto’s motion for a protective order related to testimony from a time period other than 1935 to 1977, arguing that information related to years since 1977 is relevant because Monsanto disputes allegations regarding the information it may have obtained about polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) after that year and disputes the proposition that PCBs pose a public health threat.
March 08, 2024
Magistrate Nixes Company’s Bid To Modify Water Contamination Liability Ruling

PITTSBURGH — A federal magistrate judge in Pennsylvania on March 7 denied a glass manufacturer’s attempt to modify a decision finding it liable for groundwater contamination, ruling that by previously entering into a consent order, the company had already agreed that the issues in the opinion its seeks to alter have been decided as they pertain to the company’s liability.
March 08, 2024
Judge Nixes Norfolk Southern’s Case Against Railcar Owners For Remediation Costs

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — A federal judge in Ohio has dismissed a third-party lawsuit filed by Norfolk Southern Corp. and Norfolk Southern Railway Co. (collectively, Norfolk Southern) that sought to apportion to railcar companies some amount of liability for the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, that resulted in the release of toxic chemicals, ruling that Norfolk Southern failed to state a claim against those companies.
March 05, 2024
5th Circuit: Causation Expert Properly Excluded In Deepwater Horizon Injury Case

NEW ORLEANS — A district court properly excluded a man’s medical expert after finding that he failed to show causation in a lawsuit against BP Exploration & Production Inc. related to his injuries through the exposure to chemicals during the cleanup operation that followed the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held.
March 04, 2024
Sanctions Not Warranted Against Insurer In Contamination Suit, Special Master Says

DETROIT — An insurer’s failure to timely produce all documents during discovery in an environmental contamination coverage suit does not warrant an imposition of sanctions, but the insured is entitled to re-depose two of the insurer’s claims analysts regarding information in the documents that were not timely produced, a Michigan federal court special master said.
March 04, 2024
Widow’s Glyphosate Cancer Case Ends In A Mistrial As Delaware Jury Reaches Impasse

WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware state court judge on March 1 declared a mistrial in a Roundup herbicide cancer lawsuit after the jury was unable to reach a decision on claims brought by the widow of a now-deceased landscaper who contends that Monsanto Co. fraudulently represented that Roundup is safe.
March 01, 2024
Plaintiffs Seek Stay Of 7th Circuit Mandate Pending U.S. Supreme Court Appeal

CHICAGO — The plaintiffs who had all but three lead-paint injury cases dismissed by a panel of the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals moved in that circuit on Feb. 29 seeking a stay of the mandate related to the panel’s ruling while the plaintiffs prepare a petition for writ of certiorari at the U.S. Supreme Court.
March 01, 2024
Government Says Remediation Claim Fails In Water Pollution Case Against U.S. Navy

HONOLULU — The U.S. government has filed a supplemental brief in Hawaii federal court arguing that the plaintiffs’ allegations in their lawsuit against the U.S. Navy, which “second-guess” decisions made in immediate response to a jet fuel spill that allegedly caused groundwater contamination, are barred.
March 01, 2024
Judge Sanctions Law Firm With Default Judgment In Camp Lejeune Phone Call Case

WHEELING, W.Va. — A federal judge in West Virginia on Feb. 29 issued an order entering a default judgment against a law firm that is a defendant in a lawsuit over alleged illegal phone calls soliciting clients for mass tort cases relating to toxic water exposure at Camp Lejeune, ruling that the firm has “refused outright” to participate in the litigation and that the court’s efforts to reach it have gone unanswered.
February 29, 2024
Plaintiffs Say PFAS Complaint Against L’Oreal Is Supported By Lab Test Results

NEW YORK — The plaintiffs who argue that L’Oreal USA Inc. is liable for making and selling mascara that contains per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have filed a brief in New York federal court contending that L’Oreal’s motion to dismiss their claim should be denied because it has concealed the fact that its products contain PFAS, knowing that that information would cause consumers to purchase another product.
February 29, 2024
FDA Says PFAS Sales For Use In Food Packaging Have Been Discontinued

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Feb. 28 announced that grease-proofing substances containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are no longer being sold by manufacturers for “food contact use” on product packaging.